Saturday, January 27, 2018

Stardust

“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground” –
Theodore Roosevelt

See a star and think by Kyoko Hoshino

The stars evoke a universal feeling of wonder and awe, and
provide a common global reference point reminding us all of our humble place in
the universe. These thoughts and more
may have served as inspiration for Kyoko Hoshino of the Karakuri Creation Group
in Japan when she created her “See a star and think” box for their exhibit on
“space”. The box is a straightforward
affair crafted in walnut and magnolia woods, but has a starry sky motif on the
front reminiscent of a constellation.
The box is meant to be interactive, perhaps best opened on a cool, clear
night with the sky full of twinkling lights.
You may even discover the secrets of the universe inside, who knows? Like much of Hoshino’s work, her star box has
a gentle elegance to it and a simple beauty.

Is that Betelgeuse I spy?

“Human folly does not impede the turning of the stars” – Tom
Robbins

Let’s have a starry-eyed space cocktail we can sip on while
staring into the milky depths. The
secrets of the universe may actually be quite a bit more delicious than you
would have thought. A few years ago,
astronomers at the Max Planck Institute in Bonn and Cornell University in New
York, using the 30-meter IRAM radiotelescope in Spain, began to decipher the
compounds which make up the Sagittarius B dust cloud at the center of the Milky
Way. They found ethyl formate floating
about – the chemical which gives raspberries their delicious scent. It’s also responsible for the flavor of
rum. It looks like there was the mother
of all parties out there and we never got the invite. Not to be deterred, Martin Cate, the owner of
famed rum bar Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, drew inspiration from this
interstellar revelation. His “Center of
the Galaxy” combines a richly layered rum with raspberry liqueur for an out of
this world experience. It’s one of the
most delicious cocktails I’ve had in a long time – probably because it took
light years to make. It's kind of ironic,
knowing how heavenly it smells out in space, if only there was air to
breath. Cheers!

Center of the Galaxy by Martin Cate

Center of the Galaxy by Martin Cate

2 oz Demerara rum

½ oz lime

½ oz rich simple syrup

½ honey syrup

¼ oz raspberry liqueur

1 pinch cinnamon

Shake together with ice and strain into a favorite glass.
Garnish with raspberry, lime, and interstellar space dust.